It’s a strange term, but a Lament is vitally important to the Agents of Orpheus. A Projector’s Lament is the source of the Projector’s ability to leave his body behind. there are two known ways to Project:

Skim

So-called Natural Projectors, Skimmers are adept at leaving behind their mortal coil at a moments notice. unfortunately doing so often opens them up to risks that their Sleeper brothers are unlikely to experience.

Advantages: A skimmer can project her soul from her body after one minute of meditation. If he possesses the Meditative Mind Merit he can achieve Projection in a single turn.

Once projected the skimmer can travel as far as he wished from his body but must return to awaken. If he wishes he can also choose to ‘Rip-Cord’, crashing his soul directly back into his body. The stress of having the soul so violently remerge with the body causes one level of bashing damage.

Once ‘awake’ the Skimmer regenerates one point of Vitality per hour until he reaches his starting Vitality rating.

Disadvantages: A Skimmer must spend 1Vitality an day to maintain his projected state. Once he has run out of Vitality he Rip-cords back into his body.

Because the Skimmer is very much alive and still tethered to his body by the “silver cord” any damage done to the Gauze of his projected form is mirrored in his physical body. For every point of damage done to his corpus he takes a level of bashing damage to his actual health regardless of the type of damage wielded against him. If the skimmer dies in this fashion they immediately become a Wraith.

Character Creation: Because Skimmers tend to be risk takers and known for their extraordinary willfulness so Virtues such as Fortitude and Justice and vices such as Sloth and Lust are common. While their Traits run the gamut between mental, physical and social Power and Resistance traits tend to be more important than finesse traits. Physical skills and merits tend to be paramount (along with Meditative Mind) in helping to keep up with their often extreme lifestyle.

Notable Skimmers: John “Blink” Carruthers, Ben Cotton, Kate Dennison, Patricia Dubey, Hoyt Masterson, Zoe Vitt

Sleep

Sleepers are the inheritors of the engineering miracle of the original Project:Echo. Utilizing high-tech means, these projectors are slowly frozen and ‘flatlined’ before being able to project. though they may be flatlined, their lives put on hold for weeks at a time, they also find themselves less beholden to their darker impulses.

Advantages: Sleepers do not need to spend Vitality to project or to stay in a projected state. Additionally, a sleeper can voluntarily shunt Spite points from his ghost-form and into his somnolent body, protecting himself from the ravages of that malignant energy for a time. While this ability means that Sleepers are less likely to be overwhelmed by Spite, it is not without a price. For each temporary point of spite channeled in this fashion, the sleeper’s body suffers one level of bashing damage from the presence of what could best be called “Spiritual Toxins,” punishment that the character cannot heal until he emerges from cry-sleep. Outside of this channeling, projecting sleepers do not suffer health levels of damage; all damage applied shreds their corpus alone.

As for the channeled Spite points; once the character emerges from cryo-sleep, the Spite persists as wounds. It does not initially contribute to the character’s Spite points (or increase the spite rating). Instead, the rehabilitation process to heal the sleeper’s body and mind enables to discard the Spite damage by healing the bashing damage. However should the sleeper project again before the ‘damage’ is healed it returns to his temporary Spite pool.

Sleepers regain one point of Vitality a day, whether in or out of his Cradle.

Disadvantages: A sleeper cannot project at will or in a hurry. He must enter a cryogenic cradle and be chemically flatlined. This process takes about five hours. Along the same lines, the sleeper cannot re-enter his body until the unit warms his body back to living temperature and replaces the stasis fluids with blood.

Character Creation: Sleepers may lack the devil-may-care attitude necessary to skim, they make up for it with mental and often physical fortitude, which allows them to deal with performing some of the less…ethical activities that Orpheus sometimes gets involved with. As such they tend to have high mental and social Attributes and Skills as well as Virtues like Fortitude and Prudence. There is also a preponderance of Sleepers with vices like Wrath, Envy and Lust.

Notable Sleepers: Ilona Darewell, Angela Dubey, Tom Hayes, Jane Kennedy, Chet Mason, Camille Peacewick